Marion - question #1) Yes.

Go to the top of the thread where it lists the names of people who have posted. Click on the person's post you want to link to. The URL will have a number for that particular post. Highlight it and use it.

Example: Your post above was http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21858&messages=26#327216

I'll link to it by putting that in the brackets here.